Penn Adult ADHD Treatment and Research Program

Who We Are

The Penn ADHD Treatment & Research Program was founded in 1999 with a commitment to excellence in both research and clinical service. We specialize in assessing and treating older adolescents and adults (generally age 18 and older) who have difficulties related to ADHD.

The program offers diagnostic assessment, consultation and recommendations, specialized treatment, and access to clinical research protocols, whenever they are available.

Anthony L. Rostain, MD, Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics, and J. Russell Ramsay, PhD, Associate Professor of Clinical Psychology in Psychiatry are the co-founders and Co-Directors of the Adult ADHD Treatment and Research Program. Both Drs. Rostain and Ramsay lecture to professional and lay audiences around the world on the topic of ADHD and have written extensively on the subject.

Drs. Rostain and Ramsay have developed a program for treating adults with ADHD that combines personalized Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) and medication management. This combined treatment has been shown not only to reduce the core symptoms of ADHD but more importantly, to address and manage the day-to-day impairments of ADHD. Patients usually benefit through an improved quality of life while experiencing fewer difficulties with other psychiatric disorders that often accompany ADHD, such as depression and anxiety.

Drs. Rostain and Ramsay have published their approach in the book, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Adult ADHD: An Integrative Psychosocial and Medical Approach (2015, Routledge), with the revised, updated, and expanded second edition of it having been published in September 2014. This book describes the treatment approaches used in the program and provides valuable guidance for clinicians in treating patients in an effective and time-efficient manner. The book is a useful resource for patients who would like a better understanding of ADHD and its treatment. The book also outlines the components of the diagnostic assessment conducted at the program.

As a companion to the second edition of their professional treatment guidebook, Drs. Ramsay and Rostain have written a coping guidebook designed specifically for adults with ADHD, The Adult ADHD Tool Kit Using CBT to Facilitate Coping Inside and Out (2015, Routledge). This coping resource focuses not only on the strategies for managing the effects of ADHD but also on specific tactics for following through on the use of these strategies and overcoming various barriers.

Dr. Ramsay also wrote the book, Nonmedication Treatments for Adult ADHD: Evaluating Impact on Daily Functioning and Well-Being (2010, American Psychological Association), which provides a thorough review of the types of adjunctive treatments that are available for adult ADHD as well as the research behind them. This book is a useful resource for understanding the different treatment options that are currently available.

The Adult ADHD Treatment & Research Program offers psychosocial and psychiatric treatment of adult ADHD. Within the psychosocial treatment domain, individual CBT for adult ADHD is a specialty of the program. Drs. Ramsay and Rostain were among the first clinician-researchers to adapt CBT for adult ADHD and continue to be involved in honing and refining the model. This treatment model provides an evidence-supported model for treatment that can be modified to the unique needs of each individual.

Within the psychosocial treatment domain, the program now offers a group coaching program focused on the foundational coping strategies for managing adult ADHD drawn from a variety of evidence-supported approaches (see the Group Program section of this site).

Here are some links to articles and interviews that involve members of the Penn Adult ADHD Treatment and Research Program.